Need Some Simple- Yet Creative Advice on Starting and Finishing Baby Book!!

I started my sons scrapbook while I was pregnant, the first page is the paper I got from the doctor comfirming the positive test, baby belly pictures by months, copies of all ultrasounds, baby shower- I purposly saved invatations, thank-you's, napkins and such and put them in there along with a list of everyone who came , birth-, I put hospital bands, newspaper announcement, and all of the cards that came with flowers I got, and our stay in the hospital. Once we came home I started another scrap book through the first year. Sounds pretty complicated but it's all very organized and a great look at my pregnancy and birth of him.

Have you started this book? You could organize it by months, and seasons. I know how hard it is to pick and choose pictures. Hobby Lobby (and even Wal-Mart) were my best friends, I bought tons of scrapbooking things that made it easy to put together a "baby" scrapbook.

I hate to say I haven't finished my 1st two boys books or even started my thirds book..... But I do think scrap booking their baby books is the best way because you get to do the lay out. You don't have follow the outline of. The store bought baby books....as the kids grew out of cute shirts that had some saying in the shirt....like "mommys little king" ...I saved it to put in their books....not the whole shirt..I would just cute the words and would add it to the book with a cute picture.....hope this helps.....

since you have so many photos to store, why not just do "snapshot" pages of them? Use the photo corners & then line up the pictures, page after page.....going from birth to present. Plain background paper....using the same color for the whole book.

Assuming you have 4x6 photos, then you can trim a little off each end. That means you can fit 6 photos to each page, 12 to an open-faced layout. Which then means you'd need about 70 pages for the scrapbook.....which is doable. Do the title page as "Snapshots" & you're done!

If you chose the snapshot route, then you also have the option to embellish a few pages as you go.....or to break it up into the seasons/holidays/events. A simple handwritten note added to the pages of the snapshots will explain the event & serve as a memory jolt ....later in life!

Conversely, another simple way to do this would be to use a photo box & fill it .....front-to-back....."Birth to Present" !! That would be the quickest & easiest way! Add in a few handwritten notes & you're good to go!

If you know of a Creative Memories consultant, you could go to one of her workshops and use her scrapbooking tools. You don't even have to buy anything from her if you have your own stuff. That way you could get away for a few hours and get something accomplished on your book.

For baby number two, you may not want to print out the pictures and start creating a memory book online instead. Most places will let you save your work until you are ready print the book out. I did that with Kodak and Shutterfly and with Creative Memories free software. In fact, I did a whole 12x12 book online in the time my kiddos were at school.

Oh and if you live close to an Archivers store...I get their email...they have new pages that you can just place your pictures into slots and be as creative as you'd like. I saw that in the email I got the other day and thought that would be great for some of the pictures I have from years ago, that I'm not motivated to scrapbook.

Hope this helps some. Good luck and God Bless and Congrats on number 2.

Don't know about the 400 printed pics. For my girls. I did a photo book with Shutterfly. I like how you can choose a format of whatever no of pics in a page. Load...drop...add a few words.... The bookis hard bound and pages are printed just like a book. One is a letter addressed to my daughter to my dd as I narrate journey of her first year.

Not sure if this link would work but here is one of mine http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZs2TRw4Y...

First of all limit the scope of the album. I would recommend doing just the first year. Also you do not have to do it chronologically. Try seasons, holidays, people, family, events....

If you want to do it chronologically, choose 10-12 pictures for each month and highlight those pictures. Do not be obsessed with putting every picture that you own/have printed in the book.

I would organize all the pages/pictures per page for all the pictures then start cropping. Don't cut all your pictures in shapes, just focus on the pictures and telling the story.

While I am a Creative Memories Consultant and am willing to help you I would recommend that you go to www.creativememories.com and find a consultant close to you that does workshops. Then you will have some time blocked off to work on the project.

I hope this helps.